Ilov80s
Footballguy
I think that movie is based on Homer’s The Odyssey.
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The FBG Top 300 Books of All Time (fiction edition) | #24 Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy | Running list in posts #3 and #4 (25 Viewers)
- Thread starter kupcho1
- Start date
I think that movie is based on Homer’s The Odyssey.
My mistake. You're right of course. Was reading too fast and saw all the talk about The Odyssey.
kupcho1
Footballguy
Very nice! I wasn't aware there were two schema both by Joyce himself.
I would argue one point, however.
The version I have does designate dialog with a "-" preceding the sentence (rather than having it enclosed in quotation marks). Perhaps his didn't have anything. Or maybe he was confusing it with William Gaddis' J R (my #69 book):
Ilov80s
Footballguy
The Recognitions by Gaddis is similar. It’s a tough read, lengthy read.
krista4
Footballguy
I can't promise that we'll catch up on all of these, but bookcook chat activated as I wanted OH to talk about his #2 work, Pale Fire, and suggested he combine it with Lolita since that one has come up now, too.
Right now there is aluminum foil going on a sheetpan. What, pray tell, is this?
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov and Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Taken together it’s hard to believe that these novels were written by the same person; they’re so dissimilar stylistically. Both concern meta-themes of the relationship between authorship and authority, exploring the root of both. Therefore both employ extraordinarily unreliable but believable narrators, and the most unlikable people are presented fairly likably.
As an aside, David Mamet was asked to write a script for Lolita and it was rejected by the producers who said “You made this guy look like a pedophile,” apparently believing that Humbert Humbert is something of a hero, missing the point that he was a terrible person who can’t be trusted to know his own mind, like the rest of us, and therefore everything he says is meant to be treated suspiciously.
Same thing with Pale Fire, though it’s so much deeper than that. It’s essentially a long poem, a book-length poem that features a forward and postscripts, and using only that framework, you’re treated to (1) an excellent long poem but also (2) a novel that features betrayal, scorned lovers, unreliable narrators, academic bickering, truly funny jokes, and the end result is satisfying like a novel, with a beginning and an end, if you’re willing to put in the work. While it looks abstruse and has a strange shape, it works the way a novel does. Somehow, impossibly, it’s wildly entertaining and fun to read. There’s so much goofy stuff in it – it’s filled with acrostics and hidden ciphers, all of which may add to the novel but aren’t the stuff of the novel. It’s a titanic work of imagination that is also Swiss-watch perfect. You couldn’t add anything or subtract anything and make it…it’s elegant, perfectly elegant.
I believe that Nabokov is the best novelist in any language, and he happened to have written novels in three. I think his counterpart in poetry is William Carlos Williams - every word is so exact and crystalline that it can’t be embellished or diminished.
Right now there is aluminum foil going on a sheetpan. What, pray tell, is this?
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov and Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Taken together it’s hard to believe that these novels were written by the same person; they’re so dissimilar stylistically. Both concern meta-themes of the relationship between authorship and authority, exploring the root of both. Therefore both employ extraordinarily unreliable but believable narrators, and the most unlikable people are presented fairly likably.
As an aside, David Mamet was asked to write a script for Lolita and it was rejected by the producers who said “You made this guy look like a pedophile,” apparently believing that Humbert Humbert is something of a hero, missing the point that he was a terrible person who can’t be trusted to know his own mind, like the rest of us, and therefore everything he says is meant to be treated suspiciously.
Same thing with Pale Fire, though it’s so much deeper than that. It’s essentially a long poem, a book-length poem that features a forward and postscripts, and using only that framework, you’re treated to (1) an excellent long poem but also (2) a novel that features betrayal, scorned lovers, unreliable narrators, academic bickering, truly funny jokes, and the end result is satisfying like a novel, with a beginning and an end, if you’re willing to put in the work. While it looks abstruse and has a strange shape, it works the way a novel does. Somehow, impossibly, it’s wildly entertaining and fun to read. There’s so much goofy stuff in it – it’s filled with acrostics and hidden ciphers, all of which may add to the novel but aren’t the stuff of the novel. It’s a titanic work of imagination that is also Swiss-watch perfect. You couldn’t add anything or subtract anything and make it…it’s elegant, perfectly elegant.
I believe that Nabokov is the best novelist in any language, and he happened to have written novels in three. I think his counterpart in poetry is William Carlos Williams - every word is so exact and crystalline that it can’t be embellished or diminished.
KarmaPolice
Footballguy
Bought Frankenstein and Dracula today to add to the summer of horror. First is Devil House, though.
krista4
Footballguy
A wee review of Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, while he's making a marinade for some chicken:
Kind of amazing that the first Western novel freaking crushed it, and has only been topped a handful of times since then. It’s a compelling story with a ludicrous main character and features plays within plays, with the incredible task of displaying to the reader that the protagonist is ironically the opposite of what he would want you to believe. It’s wonderful and bottomless, among the first instances of meta-fiction, and it still hasn’t been touched in terms of his exploration of the depths of this form.
Kind of amazing that the first Western novel freaking crushed it, and has only been topped a handful of times since then. It’s a compelling story with a ludicrous main character and features plays within plays, with the incredible task of displaying to the reader that the protagonist is ironically the opposite of what he would want you to believe. It’s wonderful and bottomless, among the first instances of meta-fiction, and it still hasn’t been touched in terms of his exploration of the depths of this form.
krista4
Footballguy
Chicken is in the oven! I just inquired as to the marinade. I'm told "it's a marinade of various condiments from the fridge that I should get rid of."
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
I think it’s a crime that this isn’t required reading in every school. While it’s an extrapolation or a distillation of the Black experience, it’s no less moving. The narrator begins telling his tale, opening with a scene of one of the most harrowing depictions of a fight or battle royale, where all the young Black students are fighting to pick up pennies, for the amusement of these White club members, before he’s presented with a scholarship to a Black university. That’s not the worst thing that happens in the book, but it seems so real and personal that it's one of most shocking things I've ever read.
It's about finding out that the protagonist is invisible simply because he’s never seen as a man in full, but as emblematic of all Black men. Every single step that he makes – he's invisible to white people unless he’s of use to them, and if he deviates outside, then he’s shunned. He's invisible to Black people unless he becomes a leader to them. There’s no room for an actual identity, never a chance to develop his own identity. Every choice - even down to the food he eats - is perilous. After graduating college and going to the big city, he sees someone selling yams, and he’s excited until he thinks that means he's a “country Negro” and then it tastes terrible, that he’s somehow supposed to be above it. It’s so impossibly tragic…Ellison does a great job so that the whole time you’re searching for an actual person, and that person totally eludes you.
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
I think it’s a crime that this isn’t required reading in every school. While it’s an extrapolation or a distillation of the Black experience, it’s no less moving. The narrator begins telling his tale, opening with a scene of one of the most harrowing depictions of a fight or battle royale, where all the young Black students are fighting to pick up pennies, for the amusement of these White club members, before he’s presented with a scholarship to a Black university. That’s not the worst thing that happens in the book, but it seems so real and personal that it's one of most shocking things I've ever read.
It's about finding out that the protagonist is invisible simply because he’s never seen as a man in full, but as emblematic of all Black men. Every single step that he makes – he's invisible to white people unless he’s of use to them, and if he deviates outside, then he’s shunned. He's invisible to Black people unless he becomes a leader to them. There’s no room for an actual identity, never a chance to develop his own identity. Every choice - even down to the food he eats - is perilous. After graduating college and going to the big city, he sees someone selling yams, and he’s excited until he thinks that means he's a “country Negro” and then it tastes terrible, that he’s somehow supposed to be above it. It’s so impossibly tragic…Ellison does a great job so that the whole time you’re searching for an actual person, and that person totally eludes you.
Eephus
Footballguy
Even moreso than the FFA's knowledge of the classics, I'm impressed by OH's to form complex thoughts while cooking. I'm notorious in my house for entering "cooking mode" where my bidirectional communications skills are impaired. I've been known to have thoughts wander away mid-sentence while I'm distracted by something I'm preparing. But if you asked Mrs. Eephus, she'd probably say there's more impact on my listening abilities. They're not the greatest to start with but stuff just bounces off my ears if I'm really concentrating on what I'm doing in the kitchen.
kupcho1
Footballguy
Coming in at #22, an all time classic
22. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Oliver Humanzee: #16
kupcho1: #18
KeithR: #21
Dr_Zaius: #24
chaos34: #27
kirsta4: #33
turnjose7: #35
Psychopav: #38
shuke: #54
Total points: 406
Average: 45.1
And here we have the power of volume. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn wasn't in anyone's top 10, but with 9 people submitting the book, the score speaks for itself.
| 22 | The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn | Mark Twain | kupcho1, turnjose7, chaos34, KeithR, Oliver Humanzee, Dr_Zaius, krista4, Psychopav, shuke |
22. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Oliver Humanzee: #16
kupcho1: #18
KeithR: #21
Dr_Zaius: #24
chaos34: #27
kirsta4: #33
turnjose7: #35
Psychopav: #38
shuke: #54
Total points: 406
Average: 45.1
And here we have the power of volume. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn wasn't in anyone's top 10, but with 9 people submitting the book, the score speaks for itself.
Last edited:
shuke
Black Ice Skeptic
I had this ranked at #54.
Ilov80s
Footballguy
Great point lol. When I’m cooking, I can’t have any conversation. Music is ok but no podcasts. It takes too much concentration for me lol.
kupcho1
Footballguy
You are correct. Google sheets strikes again. It was on your sheet and on the tabulation page in exactly the same form and format, but wasn't being picked up.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is #22
There'll be a new #24 tomorrow.
FML
KarmaPolice
Footballguy
Dr. Octopus
Footballguy
Same, I fluster easily.
Dr. Octopus
Footballguy
I think he said the entire lists would be made available.
kupcho1
Footballguy
I'll post the entire spreadsheet
Don Quixote
Footballguy
Coincidentally, I got in the mail today my preordered copy of the new Mark Twain biography by Ron Chernow (author of Hamilton, et al.) 
kupcho1
Footballguy
I don't read much non-fiction, but this is of interest.Coincidentally, I got in the mail today my preordered copy of the new Mark Twain biography by Ron Chernow (author of Hamilton, et al.)
Dan Lambskin
Footballguy
Was one of the few books I enjoyed reading in high school English
kupcho1
Footballguy
OK, back on track (
)
24. Blood Meridian; or, The Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy
Oliver Humanzee: #4
shuke: #9
ilov80s: #14
chaos34: #21
kupcho1: #30
Total points: 399
Average: 79.8
Now that we're down to 1 book per day, I've taken to combing through everyone's sheet to make sure that the scoring tab is picking up everything. Hopefully the screw-ups are behind me and it's smooth sailing from here on out.
)| 24 | Blood Meridian; or, The Evening Redness in the West | Cormac McCarthy | kupcho1, ilov80s, chaos34, Oliver Humanzee, shuke |
24. Blood Meridian; or, The Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy
Oliver Humanzee: #4
shuke: #9
ilov80s: #14
chaos34: #21
kupcho1: #30
Total points: 399
Average: 79.8
Now that we're down to 1 book per day, I've taken to combing through everyone's sheet to make sure that the scoring tab is picking up everything. Hopefully the screw-ups are behind me and it's smooth sailing from here on out.
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